


the prince who was "My Prince"

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Book 4: The Message, Book 6: The Capture, Cultural Differences, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Secrets, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-18 22:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18127613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: In a universe where Andalites have soulmarks and other species generally don't, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill has a mark that only names a prince, and Jake Berenson has a weirdly shaped birthmark. And another thing Ax has is communication issues.





	the prince who was "My Prince"

 Ax received more teasing over his soulmark as a cadet than he ever did as a kid. When you were a kid, of course, soulmarks weren’t serious business yet—hardly anyone had met their soulmate yet, besides which, what was in a name? They shared their soulmarks, discussed them, but didn’t think too hard except the usual, hoping their soulmates were attractive or, if platonic, brave or smart or cool. By the time you were a cadet, though, life began to open up, people began to take their soulmarks more seriously. After all, soulmarks were a sign of Andalite pride, since only Andalites were born with soulmarks of all known species, which appealed to the Andalite military’s nationalism. So you had to act like your soulmark was a big deal when you were a cadet—couldn’t take your Andalite-ness for granted. Besides which, Ax’s soulmark was uniquely awkward for a cadet in training, because it said, in very clear writing, “My Prince.”

(This was the trouble with soulmarks sometimes—the names they gave were often not real names, but only nicknames, chosen names, titles. It had caused grief to many a soul stuck with “Darling” or “Beautiful”, and it was causing Ax grief now too.)

<Preferential treatment,> his friend Jalawan would tease him when he got a good grade. <Just in case you turn out to be the professor’s soulmate.>

The professor was a prince in rank. And yes, he was still uncoupled. Consensus was he just hadn’t run into his soulmate yet, but some said his name was something too vague or obscure, the eternal “My Dear” dilemma.

<It is impossible that I am Prince Sedran’s soulmate,> Ax would reply flatly.

<You never know… soulmates don’t always get along right away…>

<I am completely unattracted to him in every way. And that is never going to change.>

<Never can turn out to be eventually,> Jalawan would say mock-wisely. <I would be very careful if I were you, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil.>

Ax was very careful. He really was. He didn’t tell anyone his soulmark if he could help it, keeping the name carefully hidden under his fur without giving anyone a look—well, okay, he did gossip about it from time to time and sometimes show it to friends, but no more than the next Andalite would—and he tried not to act too interested in any princes in case they thought he was trying to get their attention, or get his hopes up too high before finding out what their soulmarks were—well, okay, he did crush on more princes than the average cadet, but he thought he had a pretty good reason for that—anyways, he tried his best not to let knowing his soulmate would be an unknown prince affect him too much. He intended to be a professional, focused soldier, even as a cadet. Then his soulmate would be proud of him.

Honestly, even if he crushed on a few too many princes, he wasn’t sure what he expected “My Prince” to be like. Most princes were very harsh and majestic; the kind of person Ax could idolize, but not the kind of person who tended to like him much. If they knew about his soulmark they would cast him sharp glances or coolly inform him that they had already found their soulmates, thank you very much, leaving him terribly embarrassed. He’d met one prince once who had flirted, but not in a good way—Ax had been left hurrying away at the end of the encounter.

The only prince he knew who seemed like a good person was his brother.

<Don’t worry too much about it,> Elfangor would say, if Ax confided his troubles. <There are many people who will be your prince over time, if you stick with the military—you probably won’t meet them for years. And when you do meet them, you’ll know. Maybe not right away, but you’ll know.>

Ax might have suspected his own brother to be his platonic soulmate, and he wouldn’t have minded that. He loved his brother, after all, and his own parents weren’t soulmates, so the lack of romantic connection wouldn’t have bothered him much. But Elfangor’s soulmark clearly said “Loren.” If you asked him about it, he’d get quiet. Ax had asked him many times. All Elfangor would say was that he had already met Loren, and it hadn’t worked out so well. He’d never tell Ax anything about her. Though, he’d say, he had loved Loren, and he didn’t blame her for anything. But fate sometimes was not kind to even a destined pair.

Bad luck with soulmates ran in the family, then. Ax worried about it.

And, despite Elfangor’s best advice, he worried that when he did meet his soulmate, his soulmate would be disappointed in him. His soulmate was going to be a prince—his prince—and so far, he was nothing but a relatively unremarkable cadet. Worries like these made him ask Elfangor to take him with him on the mission to Earth. Made him ask Elfangor to take him into the battle above Earth’s atmosphere. But no, his insecurities weren’t reason enough to break protocol, and he was left in the dome.

Left to watch helplessly as the battle went worse and worse, and then to be hurtled down, pulled by Earth’s gravity, into the planet’s massive waters.

* * *

The dome, trapped under water, was a boring place, and Ax’s time of captivity, dire as it was, was a boring time.

He walked back and forth over the grass. He tinkered with what technology he had—some of it damaged by the fall—trying to get a message out. He occasionally dared to venture forth from the dome and acquire a sea creature. Sooner or later he would be leaving, after all, and he might well have to swim. Besides which, he was bored.

He was bored until the day four strangers showed up at the dome. Not Andalites. Possibly Controllers. Certainly dangerous.

He stunned all four of them as they entered, and set his beam to kill mode. This at least wasn’t boring, though it might not be good either. The creatures were humans, natives to this planet. It was yet to be seen if they were controlled by Yeerks or not. Either way he’d have to be on the defensive and handle this carefully. His heart fluttered ever so slightly with the typical thrill of adventure; somehow in situations like these he always thought of his soulmate, the prince, and a little of Elfangor, and what they might think of what he was doing, whether they would be pleased.

He stood back and waited for the humans to wake up, quietly observing them. They were all wearing skintight garments that covered most of their bodies. There were differences, though, even in what he could view—some were bigger than others, and the skin and hair coloring was different. One had skin that was quite dark, one in-between shades, the other two relatively light, not dissimilar to the color of the sea-sand. Three had hair in varying shades of brown, and the fourth (who was also the biggest) had hair that was more a yellowy color, and very light. They all had mouths, which was odd—Ax had seen mouths on sentient creatures before, but none with faces that looked so similar to Andalite faces in shape.

As he inspected them, they began to stir. He backed up a bit and leveled his beam gun.

The human with the darkest skin and the smallest body became aware first, opening her eyes. The moment she saw Ax she let out a squeal and sat up sharply. Ax quickly said, <Do not move. I stunned you to see what you are. But if you move, I will destroy you.>

The human lay very still. But the other humans were moving. The second one spoke the first sentence intelligible to Ax’s translator, an alarming statement: “Please tell me that’s a real Andalite and not Visser Three.”

Ax shot forward. A human who knew about Visser Three—probably a Controller. Also. Visser Three. The very name… <Do not speak that name!>

This human put up his hands calmingly before Ax had even realized he had a blade to the human’s throat. “Ooookay. Whatever you want.”

The hands were raised very near Ax’s tail, though, and Ax had heard that human hands were stronger than those of an Andalite. He held the tail for a moment, gauging the human’s placidity, before pulling it away.

The dark-skinned human was the one to offer information. She said they had received Ax’s distress call, and that they had known Elfangor. And that Elfangor was dead.

Impossible. <No one could kill him!>

“Someone did. We were there.”

Ax turned to the human making this claim. He had not spoken until now, and thus Ax had disregarded him. He was one of the lighter-skinned humans, but with brown hair. Ax asked him, <Who do you claim killed Elfangor?>

“The one whose name you refuse to speak,” the dark-skinned human said, answering in his place.

Visser Three. Visser fucking Three. The Abomination himself had killed Elfangor.

It was a terrible thing. Ax could feel his breath quickening. No, if his brother was dead, maybe this was good—surely it had been in battle—but against Visser Three, known for his cruelty, whose violence veered into perversion… <Did… did he die well?> The humans were glancing at each other, asking themselves as he asked himself, what that meant, to die well, whether there could be such a thing. <In battle?>

The light-skinned boy answered, “He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had.”

Fighting, then. How a warrior would want to die.

But Ax had not thought of Elfangor dying, yet. Not…not really.

He closed his eyes, thinking of when he had last seen Elfangor. Elfangor had left him here, telling him not to be too bored until he got back. He could almost feel Elfangor’s presence now, by his side. When he opened his eyes, though, the situation was as it was. Elfangor was dead, Ax was trapped, and with the news the humans brought, the whole planet was probably doomed.

But he was an Andalite. A warrior. At a time like this, he couldn’t falter. What would Elfangor think, were he alive? What would “My Prince” think, if he even existed? He steadied himself. Told the humans, <My brother was a great warrior. His cousins loved him. His enemies feared him. No more can be said of any Andalite warrior.>

The light-skinned human responded, voice quiet in a way that Ax’s translators told him was comforting. “I’ve lost a brother, too. He’s one of them. A Controller.”

<And you, human? Do you serve the Yeerks or fight them?> In this moment they had become his companions in grief, but if he had to…

“I fight them. We fight them.”

Maybe Ax was imagining it, but there was something reminiscent of Elfangor in the steady defiance of the light-skinned human’s eyes. He could recognize one thing at least.

This one was a prince.

The humans agreed on it too, later, when he asked them which of them was in charge. Though the prince himself, who had turned out to be named Jake, snorted.

“Give me a break. I’m no one’s prince.”

Ax had rarely known a prince to be self-deprecating, but he found he appreciated it. He stepped forward and bowed. <I will fight for you, Prince Jake, until I can return home to my cousins.>

* * *

The humans were very nice, as it turned out. Nicer and also more competent than Ax’s education on the human species would have led him to expect. They allowed him to acquire their DNA. They found him a place to stay in the woods near where they lived, where they assured him the Yeerks wouldn’t find him—though if the Yeerks did spot him, they added, he should run, fight, and get in contact as soon as possible—and where there was plenty of vegetation to eat. They gave him advice on blending in with humans, and garments to use if it became necessary.

The clothing confused Ax somewhat. Though, when he was morphed human—as he tried a few times, practicing—the weather was a little cold to be walking around with no covering whatsoever. So maybe the layers of cloth the humans wore on their skin made some amount of sense. Still, to wear them at all times, and such complicated clothes as well… Well, all cultures were different.

The humans were wearing morphing suits the first time he saw them. And after that, the first few times he spoke to them, they were wearing long sleeves over their arms. Then, one day when the weather did turn hotter than before, Prince Jake and Cassie came by to talk to Ax, and to his new companion Tobias, wearing clothes with nothing covering their arms.

Ax had been waiting to bring up a particular subject with them, the subject of how he was going to get home, which he thought he’d put off long enough, almost a week having already passed with no action. But when he saw Prince Jake approaching, he spotted something that left him utterly stunned.

There were markings on the inner side of Prince Jake’s bicep. Thin letters, Andalite letters rather than human. The markings of a soulmark. A soulmark which looked like it said…

Which said…

<What is that on your arm,> Ax said. It was not really a question. He knew, he saw. Only…

“Oh, this.” Prince Jake, who had been standing around a bit awkwardly, laughed and stretched his arm out to show it. So Ax could read it plainly. “It’s just a birthmark. Humans are born with weird marks on them sometimes. This one’s kind of weirder than usual, but it’s no big. My mom had it checked out, it’s not the sign of a disease or anything.”

Ax, the mark said.

The mark said Ax.

Not a full name, but a clear one. No “My Dear” dilemma here.

<My Prince,> Ax thought, very faintly. How…

But soulmarks were the pride of the Andalite species. No one had soulmarks but the Andalites. Sure, you heard rumors of that one Hork Bajir, the Hamee phenomenon, but that was widely considered a hoax, a fake, and Hamee had disappeared, and, and… Well, no one but Andalites had soulmarks! That wasn’t how it worked.

“I told you I’m not a prince,” Prince Jake said, assuming Ax’s words were meant for him. As it appeared they might well be. But no. That made no sense. It made no… but how else would he get the marking? It wasn’t like any humans knew the Andalite alphabet.

Controller humans, maybe, but Prince Jake was no Controller. They’d fought and killed together, Ax knew that much.

He made some reply, hiding his distress. When Jake and Cassie were gone, he went for a long walk, thinking. “My Prince” was supposed to be an Andalite prince. A distinguished warrior. Someone like Elfangor, or any of his mentors over the years. Not a human guerilla leader; for that matter, not a human at all.

And, a sick feeling in his stomach noted, if Prince Jake was his soulmate? It looked like he was going to be spending quite a bit of time on Earth.

He brooded over it for a full day. But then, he thought, it wasn’t necessarily true. Maybe Jake was going to come back to the Andalite home world with him and that was their destiny. Or maybe this was one of those things where you only knew your soulmate for a brief space of time but they greatly influenced your life. Anything was possible.

Ax couldn’t give up on going home that quickly.

* * *

Weeks passed.

Prince Jake was a good prince, and the others were also good comrades. They all tried to help Ax get home. But Ax’s first plan, to get in touch with a Bug fighter, ended in complete disaster and almost got everyone killed—leaving them only saved at the last moment by interfaction rivalry on the part of the Yeerks.

Prince Jake didn’t speak of blame. In post-mission debriefs, he never criticized anyone for what happened during the missions. Everyone in the group did give input on how they might do better next time, but there was no focus on people’s mistakes. No one talked about how Ax’s desire to contact the Andalites had nearly killed everyone. It was as if they had forgotten he had started everything in the first place, forgotten it completely.

Ax couldn’t help but hang back after that, though, and he didn’t talk to the others much for a few days, staying in the forest as much as he could. He’d failed, he thought. He’d survived, certainly, but his idea had been a bad one, and he had hardly proved himself to “My Prince” as he had hoped.

He was surprised when a few days later Prince Jake came into the forest seeking him. Though of course he should not have been; it was a prince’s responsibility to watch over his squad. Still, he didn’t feel as if he really deserved the company, or the concern. He’d done nothing to earn it.

He sat down on the grass with Prince Jake, hooves folded so he wasn’t eating. Prince Jake was frowning. He said, “Ax.”

<Yes, my prince?>

“You said you can’t tell us much about Andalite technology…”

Ax hated to deny Prince Jake anything—both his superior and his soulmate, though Prince Jake would deny the former and Ax had yet to tell him about the latter, having not yet found an opportune moment. Still, Andalite technology was secret for good reason. <Yes, prince,> he said dejectedly.

“You really need to stop calling me prince… anyways, I had a question that’s more about biology, I guess?”

Ax’s hair stood on end. For a moment he was utterly convinced he knew what Prince Jake was going to ask. Somehow he’d found out about soulmarks, had realized he had one, and was going to ask…

“…more about Yeerk biology, I guess…”

Wait, what?

Prince Jake was scratching his ear uncomfortably. “I told you my brother’s a Controller. Well… how does that work? How do Yeerks control people? I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable,” he said quickly, no doubt reading Ax’s expression. “I know your people consider it… well, my people would obviously consider it a huge violation too, but if you know anything about how it works… I have to know.”

He’d mentioned his brother. It was personal; though it was information that no doubt would be useful to him as a commander, this clearly was not just a debrief. But there was no way to soften the description of what Yeerks did to someone who had already seen the effects. Ax was blunt and brief. He described how Yeerks modified their bodies to the shape of the hosts’ brains. How they attached to neurons. How they could read thoughts, control bodies. He watched Jake’s face, rigid and unmoving. It was an Abomination to the Andalites that one Andalite was infested. There were thousands of humans infested on Earth, and one of them was Prince Jake’s brother.

When he was done speaking, Prince Jake was still silent. He reached out and touched Prince Jake’s shoulder. An Andalite might do such a thing as comfort for another Andalite, and he’d seen humans do it too. <Your brother will be freed or avenged,> he said.

Prince Jake huffed. “Well, that’s comforting.”

<I’m sorry? Did I say something wrong?>

“No, you’re honest. I appreciate that.” Prince Jake stood. “I think I need to go now.”

Though they had gotten closer in a way, Ax felt that in another way he had just realized the distance that really lay between them. Prince Jake was his commander and his friend, and they had risked their lives for each other already, but they still knew each other very little. And in grief, Prince Jake had run away.

<My Prince,> he thought, but he kept the thought private, so that it only echoed around his own head.

* * *

He knew it would be better to tell Prince Jake about the soulmark thing soon. Otherwise it would become an actual secret he was keeping instead of an awkward fact he didn’t know how to mention. But, not knowing how to broach the subject, he found himself first confiding in someone with less of a personal stake in the matter, someone he knew a little better than Prince Jake: the hawk nothlit Tobias.

<The soulmarks sound kind of cool,> Tobias said when Ax had explained the basic concept, <but how the fuck do they work? I mean, not that I’m… I’m more agnostic than atheist or whatever, but… fate? Seriously?>

<Some people say that it is biology, others say it is supernatural. Some people say we should stop calling them ‘soulmarks’ or ‘soulmates’ entirely, as it denotes the belief in a soul, which is a gray area in Andalite as well as human philosophy. However, there are many things science has not yet fully explained.> Also Ax had never paid that much attention in his biology classes in general, so if there was a more scientific explanation for it all these days, he wouldn’t know about it anyways.

 <…I guess that’s true for us too,> Tobias said. <I mean, we don’t even understand how morphing works…>

Ax hoped that wasn’t a hint for him to explain the morphing process or the cube; he didn’t know much about all that either. <Anyway, as far as Andalite history goes, there is only one recorded case of an Andalite having a soulbond with a non-Andalite, the case of Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan and Dak Hamee the Hork Bajir. Even that is dubious.>

<Dubious. You have a way with words.>

<But,> Ax said, <Apparently my soulmark corresponds with Prince Jake’s. It is an odd occurrence.>

Tobias, who had been sitting up in a tree above Ax’s head, stared down at him, then, in a flurry of wing, came to land on a lower branch, level with Ax’s face. <Come again?>

<What?>

<With Prince Jake’s?>

<It would appear that Prince Jake has a soulmark that spells my name,> Ax said. <My own soulmark has always said ‘My Prince’—there can be no mistake. But it is a very odd occurrence and I am not sure what to make of it.>

<Look, Ax.> Tobias’ thoughts were insistent. <Humans don’t have soulmarks. I mean, you just said so yourself.>

<They aren’t supposed to, but Prince Jake has one on his arm. That is what is so very strange about it.>

<His—you mean his birthmark?>

<Yes. That.>

<That’s a soulmark?>

<Yes, it is.>

<That’s…what the fuck.>

While Ax had hoped Tobias would be helpful as an outsider to the situation, and have insight for how to approach a human about it, Tobias was too confused to help for a full hour, only trying to come up with logical reasons why Ax had to be wrong. At last he gave up. But he didn’t have much advice.

He did say, <I guess if you and Jake are fated soulmates, that’s pretty cool. Jake’s a cool guy.>

His thought voice was always less expressive than those of the others—perhaps the hawk’s influence—but still, Ax thought he sounded wistful. He said, <Well, he seems to be, but who can say if it will work out? My family has a very bad history of…>

<Please don’t jinx it,> Tobias said quickly. <Really, I wish you guys the best.>

He still didn’t offer advice on how to talk to Prince Jake about any of it, and he was reserved with Ax for the next two days. Overall, talking to him about it seemed to have been an actually bad decision.

Oh well.

* * *

He still had no clue how to talk to Jake about it, so, figuring that the whole group would know soon enough anyway, he asked Cassie.

Cassie was more intrigued by the concept of soulmates than disturbed, unlike Tobias, though she too pondered the scientific implications. When Ax brought Jake into it she frowned and considered the matter seriously.

“…I’m sorry,” she said, when she had been quiet for a while. She smiled reassuringly. “It’s just kind of weird. Jake’s very normal, you know? I mean that birthmark has always been weird but other than that, he’s very…normal.”

<Jake is the leader of a guerilla squadron,> Ax pointed out. <I do not believe that is typical for human teenagers, by what I have observed so far.>

Cassie laughed. Of the group, she was the one who tended to pick up on the fact that his jokes were jokes the most. “Yeah… no, I guess we’re not really normal anymore.” She sighed, laughter gone. “Especially Jake. I don’t think he’ll ever go back to normal. Maybe this will even be good for him in a way…” She sighed again. “Do you know I used to have a crush on him?”

Ax shifted uncomfortably. He knew what a ‘crush’ was by now. If that was the case, Cassie had definitely been the wrong person to go to.

“No, it’s fine, I got over it when I found out he was gay.”

<Gay meaning attracted to members of the same gender as himself, as your species understands it?>

“Yeah. Did we never mention it to you? That he’s gay?”

Ax had been too concerned about the species difference—as well as any other number of crises—to worry about the fact that his gender and Jake’s were roughly correspondent. Still, he did prefer to use a male human body, so he guessed it was a good thing. Though it might be difficult for Jake, since from what he’d learned, it was not entirely socially accepted. He relayed these feelings to Cassie, who nodded and told him that Jake mostly kept this fact private, and in fact it would be better for Ax not to bring it up.

“…maybe I shouldn’t have told you even. But… you’re a member of the team, you’re an alien who probably has a whole different concept of sexuality—let’s not go into that right now, it could take all night and I still have homework—and you’re his… soulmate.” She squinted at the last part. “…anyways. What were we talking about?”

<I was asking you for advice on how to discuss the matter of soulmarks and soulmates with Prince Jake.>

“I don’t know,” Cassie said. “I never told him how I felt about him. And this seems a lot more complicated.” She raised her eyebrows. “What will you do if he rejects you?”

<If he…>

For some reason, although Ax had considered the possibility of his soulmate hating him and hating being stuck with him, he’d never considered the possibility of outright rejection. One did not reject a soulmate, not without giving them a chance, not entirely. Soulmates were linked, after all, meant to be. It would be counterintuitive.

But humans didn’t have soulmates. And as far as he could tell, they didn’t particularly want them. Prince Jake rejecting Ax was a very real possibility.

Cassie patted his arm. “Sorry, Ax. I didn’t mean to stress you out. Look, I think you should just talk to Jake about it. I’m sure if you guys just communicate, it’ll be fine. I mean, it doesn’t even have to be romantic, from what you said—it just means you guys have a strong connection, and will mean something to each other in the future, and that’s true of all of us. We’re family. We’re a team.”

<Thank you,> Ax said, hoping he didn’t sound as disheartened at this as he felt. Always in the past he’d been content at the thought of a platonic soulmate. But now that he’d met Jake, well. He hadn’t liked the idea of a human soulmate at first because he wanted to get back to his cousins and his home. But even if he still had mixed feelings on Earth (the food was great, the lack of advanced technology less so), he thought he knew more or less how he felt about Jake now. A warm feeling, mingled loyalty and admiration and a little bit of something else. And it was not really all that familial.

Really not at all familial. Especially since the very thought of others on the team being equally important to Jake sent a pang of jealousy through his heart, even though he knew it was true—he still didn’t know Jake as well as Rachel or Marco or Cassie, after all. And he wasn’t even human.

What a mess. Yes, he really should just talk to Jake…

But he didn’t.

Instead, when Prince Jake came by to visit the forest, he asked questions about human culture. He practiced morphing human, and hoped Prince Jake didn’t notice the fact that in human form he found Jake even more attractive. He laughed when Prince Jake laughed at his pronunciations of words, and ate a little food that Prince Jake had brought for him to try. It was an apple, a very common fruit on Earth. He didn’t like it as much as he liked cinnamon buns. Prince Jake said it was sour, and took a bite of it himself. The crunch of his teeth was a pleasant sound. Ax wondered if his own teeth sounded as good crunching. He liked the sound of them himself, but mostly from the novelty.

So they talked about less important things, and Ax tried not to look too hard at the mark on Prince Jake’s arm. His soulmark was on his arm also. But it was covered up by his hair, as were most Andalite soulmarks. Prince Jake’s soulmark looked so naked, so vulnerable, almost obscene. His Controller brother had to look at it everyday; it was a miracle no Controller yet had noticed that his “birthmark” looked like an Andalite symbol. Yet another reason to tell him the truth.

But Prince Jake was telling him about how he would bring some other kind of fruit next time, maybe some fresh grapes, and Ax didn’t have the heart to talk about anything serious, not when Prince Jake was smiling.

* * *

The next mission involved that Controller brother. It started out with spying on a meeting, and ended with a whirlpool of dying Yeerks.

Prince Jake could be genial. He could smile and laugh and compare and contrast cinnamon buns and apples. He could also be brutal, brutal as an Andalite.

He also, unfortunately, could be hurt.

They had to carry him out of the room, out of the building. He’d fallen into a Yeerk pool; Ax couldn’t imagine anything more disgusting.

Marco carried him out. He had the best arms for it, as a gorilla; weak Andalite arms were not enough. It was the first time Ax had ever really wished to be human, except as a passing fancy—he could do nothing to help Jake right now. Well, he could fight. And he did fight, helped them fight their way out. But Marco could carry Prince Jake in his arms, cradle him, and Ax could not. Even Cassie could carry him off to cover in her horse morph. Ax didn’t have one of those yet, and his back wasn’t strong enough to support an unconscious passenger either.

He was even behind on catching up with them, fighting Yeerks on the way out of the hospital. By the time he arrived, Prince Jake was talking to the rest of the Animorphs calmly, standing up. Ax had missed the excitement. But it was good that Prince Jake had recovered. He tapped Prince Jake on the shoulder, feeling a slight thrill at the physical contact. Even recovering from the adrenalin of a battle, it still moved him.

Then Prince Jake turned, and when he saw Ax, the expression on his face was one of pure hatred.

 Ax would have gaped, had he a mouth. His eyes widened. He felt wounded—until Prince Jake’s face shifted back to normal and he began to speak. “Hey, Ax. You did great back there when…”

But Ax had seen what he had seen. And that wasn’t the way Jake looked at him. And-and…

The probabilities ran together. Ax whipped his tail up, poised it at Jake’s throat. The anger pounded in his head more violently than the relief at seeing him well. <YEERK.>

Prince Jake froze.

His expression flickered from simply surprised to betrayed. It was good acting. It was enough to make Ax almost feel guilty. But. Prince Jake didn’t look at him in disgust. And Prince Jake’s head had been stuck in a Yeerk pool for just about long enough for something to worm inside.

The other humans were aghast. Ax said, <His head was in the Yeerk pool long enough for a Yeerk to enter his head. And just now . . . you all saw his expression when he was surprised to see me. I am not human. I do not know every human expression. So tell me. What was that look?>

“This is crazy,” Prince Jake said. He had changed his expression from betrayed to simply disbelieving, a little mocking. “Marco, Cassie, will you please tell this nut that I’m okay?”

But Marco and Cassie, hearing Ax’s logic, were not so easily swayed. They were, after all, very intelligent humans. Ax’s teammates. He felt a swell of pride, seeing them side with him—even if it was against Prince Jake, which should have made him feel guilty. But this wasn’t Prince Jake. He was ninety percent sure about that.

The ten percent which pessimistically said Prince Jake being disgusted at him was not really all that shocking was mostly his illogical emotions, anyhow. Having stuck one’s head in a Yeerk pool was already proof enough.

As Prince Jake and Cassie and Marco and Rachel argued the best way to handle things, Ax largely stood back. He knew little of how to manage their human affairs, how to cover up Jake’s disappearance. He only knew it would have to be done. Then Cassie glanced over at Ax and said, “Ax could pretend to be Jake.”

Well.

He had been spending a lot of time observing Jake.

For other reasons of course, but. Now it turned out he could use them to help Jake! It would have made Ax happy if the day wasn’t so terrible. A Yeerk in Jake’s head was as much of an Abomination as Visser Three.

But they would take care of it. They would get the Yeerk out of Jake’s head, save him. He kept his eyes on Jake’s as he reached out to touch Jake’s forehead and acquire his DNA. He felt a sudden aching need to tell Jake in this moment—Prince Jake who despite his bravery and leadership had to be terrified right now—to tell him how much he loved him.

Then the Yeerk screamed, “Get your hand off me, Andalite filth!”

It was hearing those words that settled everything and unsettled everything at once. It certainly wasn’t Jake, and it wasn’t Jake who had been so disgusted to see Ax’s face. But there was a Yeerk in Jake’s head.

Ax gritted his teeth and acquired the DNA. It was too bad Prince Jake wasn’t around to ask permission, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t begrudge it.

* * *

Spending three days as Prince Jake was certainly educational.

He felt guilty about enjoying it, in a way. The real Prince Jake was shut up in a shed in the woods, and equally locked up in his own mind, infested by a Yeerk. Of course he was anxious. But he also had a chance to see what Prince Jake’s life was like—a life that, although all his friends said it was “completely normal”, was a mystery to him.

He also ate some very good potatoes. Much better than sour apples. He wondered with a pang if Prince Jake would eventually have brought him these. He was stealing experiences he had no right to.

It was to protect Prince Jake, though. So.

He learned new tastes. He learned about a human’s daily routine. He learned to despise Tom’s Yeerk more than ever before. Because Tom Berenson acted so friendly to his little brother, so genuinely brotherly. Seeing him like this day after day had to tear him apart.

It tore Ax apart to even think of it.

He would talk to Prince Jake about all this again. This time he would not let Jake run away.

* * *

But, despite his best intentions to talk to Prince Jake about that—about everything, about so many things—in the end, it was Jake who came to him. In the woods again, this time with some chicken, which he set down before starting the conversation.

“The Yeerk in my head,” he said, “used to belong to Tom.”

<How horrifying.>

“He thought it was interesting that your name was Ax,” he said. “Apparently, he… Apparently my birthmark looks a lot like the symbol for the syllable ‘Ax’ in Andalite. And he used to talk to Tom about that. It was something that disgusted him about me, that I looked like I was marked like an Andalite.”

Ax nodded.

“He said that if your name was Ax, and I was marked with your name, it meant something.” Jake was looking away. “He said Andalites are… marked with…” He trailed off and looked at Ax expectantly.

Ax knelt on the grass next to him. <I’m sorry you had to hear about it from him. I was going to tell you eventually. I hadn’t figured out how yet. But you deserved better than to hear about it from Yeerk slime.>

“…you’re so vicious when you’re being romantic,” Jake muttered.

<I do think you are my soulmate,> Ax continued determinedly. He was going to get it out this time. <My own soulmark says…>

“Jake Berenson?”

<My Prince.>

“I’m not your prince,” Jake muttered automatically.

<Yes, you are. I know you are.> If he’d ever had doubts, they’d faded over the past few weeks. He cared about Jake. And Jake was his prince in ways no prince ever had been before. <Would you like to see it? My mark?>

Jake nodded.

Ax extended his arm and with a finger moved his fur aside to show the markings. It was very small, the soulmark. Jake stared at it, and hesitantly touched it with his index and middle finger. Ax shivered at his touch.

“I can’t read it.”

<It says I am meant to be with you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.>

They looked at each other. Jake said, “That’s fine. Uh… so, is this a romance thing? We’re like… meant to be in love? The Yeerk made it sound very…”

Disgusting, probably. One could not trust a Yeerk to speak about Andalite anything, much less sensitive parts of their culture. <Sometimes it is romantic, sometimes platonic.>

“Oh, well.”

<For me, I am in love with you. But you must feel however you feel.>

“I…” Jake shrugged. “I don’t know. Can I kiss you?”

Ax had seen humans kissing before. He didn’t have a mouth, though. <You can, but I will not be able to reciprocate unless…>

Before he could finish, Jake was kissing his chin, where his mouth would be if he were human. It was not a particularly erogenous zone for an Andalite, but the intensity of Jake’s eyes, which were wide open, froze Ax mid-sentence. Then Jake’s hands, strong human hands, circled his waist. He reached up and touched Jake’s cheeks as he kissed. He wasn’t sure how they were going to work this part of things out, but this didn’t seem a bad way to start.

<My Prince,> he thought, voice as loud and carefree as the wind. <My Prince.>

**Author's Note:**

> Why did I write this  
> Oh wait. I know why I wrote this. It's because I like contrived awkward soulmate situations, secrets that you mean to tell but never got around to damn it, and, most importantly AX AND JAKE. My boys :)  
> I hope someone else out there enjoyed this fic, which was written from pure self indulgence! I'd love to hear from anyone in the comments :)


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